1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of and an apparatus for packaging a light-shielded photosensitive material roll which comprises a rolled photosensitive material sheet, a pair of light-shielding members mounted on respective opposite ends of the rolled photosensitive material sheet, a light-shielding sheet wound around the rolled elongate photosensitive material sheet, and a pair of heat-shrinkable package members separately or integrally mounted on respective transversely opposite ends of the light-shielding sheet and heat-shrunk in covering relation to outer peripheral edges of the light-shielding members, and an apparatus for heating a fluid with a heating body and supplying the heated fluid to an object to be heated.
2. Description of the Related Art
Roll films for use in the plate making field are in the form of a light-shielded photosensitive material roll which comprises a rolled elongate photosensitive material sheet wound around a core, a pair of light-shielding members mounted on respective opposite ends of the rolled elongate photosensitive material sheet, and a light-shielding sheet (light-shielding leader) wound around the rolled elongate photosensitive material sheet.
Various proposals have heretofore been made in the art with respect to light-shielded photosensitive material rolls. For example, the invention disclosed in Japanese patent application No. 11-50946 is concerned with the easy manufacture of a light-shielded photosensitive material roll.
Specifically, as shown in FIG. 20 of the accompanying drawings, disk-shaped light-shielding members 2 are attached to respective opposite ends of a photosensitive material roll 1, and an elongate heat-shrinkable light-shielding leader 3 that is heat-shrinkable in the longitudinal direction thereof is wound around the photosensitive material roll 1. The wound light-shielding leader 3 has its outer end fixed in position by a tape 4. Then, in order to shrink the light-shielding leader 3 with heat, the photosensitive material roll 1 is introduced into a shrinking tunnel 5, and a heater in the shrinking tunnel 5 is energized to heat the light-shielding leader 3. The light-shielding leader 3 is shrunk with heat, forcibly bringing opposite ends 3a thereof into close contact with the outer surfaces of the disk-shaped light-shielding members 2, whereupon a light-shielded photosensitive material roll 6 is completed.
As described above, the shrinking tunnel 5 is used to heat-shrink the light-shielding leader 3. If a light-shielded photosensitive material roll 6 of larger dimensions needs to be manufactured, then the shrinking tunnel 5 is required to be larger in overall size. The larger shrinking tunnel 5 needs a larger installation space therefor and results in a greater power requirement for the heater used in the shrinking tunnel 5.
In the shrinking tunnel 5, the light-shielding leader 3 and the entire photosensitive material roll 1 are heated. If the photosensitive material roll 1 is highly sensitive to heat, then the quality of the photosensitive material roll 1 tends to be adversely affected by the heat that is applied to shrink the light-shielding leader 3.
An apparatus for heating a fluid such as air and supplying the heated fluid to an object to be heated may be used to the light-shielding leader 3. Such a fluid heating and supplying apparatus is generally constructed to pass air through a heating coil to produce hot air and supply the hot air to the object to be heated. Typically, the fluid heating and supplying apparatus may be a drier or an air heater. However, these fluid heating and supplying apparatus are not designed for the purpose of producing air at such a high temperature as to be able to deform the object.
One known apparatus for heating air to a high temperature is an exhaust gas purifying apparatus for burning a particulate in the form of combustible minute particles such as soot particles discharged from a diesel engine or the like (see Japanese laid-open patent publication No. 11-264313).
As shown in FIG. 21 of the accompanying drawings, the exhaust gas purifying apparatus comprises a first tubular member 2b having a gas inlet 1b connected to the exhaust port of a diesel engine or the like, a second tubular member 3b disposed in the first tubular member 2b, a third tubular member 4b disposed in the second tubular member 3b and having a gas outlet 5b, and a filter 6b arranged in layers made of ceramics or the like and disposed in the third tubular member 4b. Heating coils 7b are wound between the first tubular member 2b and the second tubular member 3b, between the second tubular member 3b and third tubular member 4b, and between the layers of the filter 6b. 
An exhaust gas G flowing in from the gas inlet 1b passes between the first tubular member 2b and the second tubular member 3b and between the second tubular member 3b and third tubular member 4b, and is heated by the heating coils 7b. The particulate contained in the exhaust gas G is combusted away by the heat of the heating coils 7b. The heated exhaust gas G is purified by the filter 6b and discharged out of the exhaust gas purifying apparatus.
In the exhaust gas purifying apparatus, the exhaust gas G passes through an elongate passage that is defined by the first tubular member 2b, the second tubular member 3b, and third tubular member 4b that are nested together. The exhaust gas G is sufficiently heated while it is flowing through the elongate passage.
However, while the exhaust gas purifying apparatus can sufficiently heat the exhaust gas G, the heat generated by the heating coils 7b tends to leak out of the exhaust gas purifying apparatus through the first tubular member 2b. Therefore, the exhaust gas purifying apparatus cannot be used in applications for heating a circuit element without thermally affecting nearby circuit elements, such as a fluid heating and supplying apparatus for preheating a circuit element.
If the exhaust gas purifying apparatus is used in an environment where a material to be shielded from light, such as a photosensitive material, is handled, then since the heating coils 7b are exposed through the gas outlet 5b, the photosensitive material may possibly be exposed to the glow produced when the heating coils 7b are heated. Similarly, when the temperature of the exhaust gas purifying apparatus rises, the first tubular member 2b itself glows, producing light to which the photosensitive material is exposed.